Foyt teams with Byrd, Belardi, Hollinger to make James Davison 35th entry into Indy 500

Dale Coyne Racing IndyCar driver James Davison (18) will fill in for Sebastien Bourdain and attempt to qualify the car during Armed Forces Pole Day Sunday, May 21, 2017, afternoon at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — After the checkered flag flew to conclude the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500, David Byrd marched down to the Dale Coyne Racing garage with a singular mission: Figure out a way to put James Davison in a car for the 102nd running.

Byrd, part of the Greenwood-based Jonathan Byrd's Racing ownership group, was blown away by the skill and composure Davison showed after being tossed into a nearly impossible situation. Davison had been recruited by Coyne to replace Sebastien Bourdais after the Frenchman's nasty qualifying crash.

Davison jumped right in and despite having only a week to feel out the car, driving a backup machine that was prepped for the streets of Belle Isle rather than Indianapolis Motor Speedway and starting the race in dead last, he found himself pacing the field with just 24 laps to go. He'd wind up leading two laps before getting into a scrape with Oriol Servia on a late restart and settling for 20th.

"I went right from my seat to the Coyne garage where Davison was a little dejected after the way things finished," said Byrd, who first met Davison when he ran the 500 for KV Racing Technology in 2014. "And I told him, 'That was quite simply one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen here. … Let's start working on something for the (next) 500. Let's make this happen.' "

And that's what they did. After nearly a year's worth of searching for partners to make their dream a reality, Jonathan Byrd's Racing partnered with Belardi Auto Racing and Hollinger MotorSport to join the A.J. Foyt Racing team to make Davison and the No. 33 Chevrolet the 35th entry into this May's Indianapolis 500.

For Davison, this will be his fourth crack at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, though he's been able to qualify his own car only once. He debuted with KV Racing in 2014, when he finished 16th. He finished 19th for Coyne in 2015 and did not compete in 2016.

"I think James has a real feel for the speedway, so much so that I compare him to three guys who have raced for us at the speedway," said Byrd, whose family has fielded entries at the 500 off and on since 1985. "Arie Luyendyk, Scott Brayton and Buddy Lazier.

"I think James is an amalgamation of those three. Arie had a fantastic feel for the speedway, and I think James does, too. Brayton was fearless and wanted to be the fastest guy out there and always felt like he had something to prove. The same can be said of James. And Buddy was always looked at as the most aggressive guy out there, a guy who would attack track and get the most out of the car. And I see that in James, as well."

"If you look at who I ran Indy Lights with, who I beat, to be straight up, it shouldn't be a surprise (how well I drove last year)," Davison said. "I don't want to name names and so on, but as a driver, you've got to try to get yourself in the right equipment and situation, and obviously the opportunity with Bourdais, filling in for him, I knew that was huge."

"It was a very stressful 24 hours from when he had his crash to being confirmed in the car. I knew it was going to be nearly a career-defining opportunity, and I think to date it has proven that way for sure."

The entry marks for the first for Brian Belardi and his Belardi Auto Racing team, which competes in Indy Lights with Aaron Telitz and Santi Urrutia.

Belardi has often found himself at IMS come race day morning — his team has twice won the Freedom 100 — but he has never allowed himself to stay for the 500. He vowed to himself that the first time he saw the 500 in person would be when he could do it as a participant.

"I can't wait to see everything live, finally," Belardi said with a laugh. "There might me a tear coming down my face (that first lap.)."

Brad Hollinger, owner of Hollinger MotorSport, is the chairman and CEO of Vibra Healthcare, a specialty acute-care hospital company based in Pennsylvania. He's also a shareholder of Williams Grand Prix Holdings.

For Foyt, the partnership comes as a bit of a surprise since A.J. Foyt had been adamant that his team would field only two entries — full-season drivers Tony Kanaan and Matheus Leist — but now the team will enter three cars at Indy for a fourth straight season.

Team president Larry Foyt credited the late change of heart to the strength and independence of the Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi program. Davison's car will be run by former KV Racing crew chief Steve Moore, who helped put Tony Kanaan in victory lane in 2013. Moore will assemble a crew for the car that doesn't take personnel away from the No. 4 or No. 14 cars.

"In the past, we've had to take some of our people to help that (third) program, and that was one thing we didn't want to do this year," Foyt said. "So really for (A.J. Foyt) it was just knowing that we had the right people involved to make it a good program, and we were able to do that."